Digital lab

Since 2005, the Istituto Luigi Sturzo has paid particular attention to changes brought about by the use of technology in managing and valorising its bibliographic and archive assets.

Through a path of study and analysis of operating models being devised by the community of cultural institutions, the Istituto Luigi Sturzo has initiated specific activity dedicated to research and the application of digital techniques for the preservation, use and valorising of archive and bibliographic documentation preserved at its Historical Archive and Library.

In function of the Institute’s recent acquisitions of a vast quantity of photographic documentation and audiovisual materials, a number of activities have been launched aiming to create expertise for the digital management and handling of these non-traditional sources, now widely used for historical, sociological, political and cultural research.

Methodologies and objectives of the Lab’s work are inspired by institutional experience which in the past two years has strongly characterised the management of Italian and European cultural assets, in the knowledge that sharing cultural heritage is the preferred path for disseminating historical knowledge both in the area of specialist studies as well as in civil society.

The Lab therefore is active in different contexts:

preservation: the Lab autonomously performs digitalisation activity with the aim of preserving the photographic, iconographic and bibliographic archives;

fruition: the documentation (posters, photographs, printed volumes, audiovisual sources and documents) can be consulted on site and through the Internet; with GEA software for the “Archivi del '900” network used by numerous Italian cultural institutions, the Lab has created databases for the consultation of documents on digital media and the related description cards; it has also launched an experiment for the first digital library publishing bibliographic material often consulted by users of the Institute’s library with the intention of creating an online
consultation service for the most frequently requested items;

valorising and dissemination: through publication on the Internet of web pages, complete with access to the Institute’s databases, the documentary and bibliographical archives are available to the community of scholars and to an ever broader public, based on the research activity conducted by the Institute and the specific paths for in-depth historical studies.

Reproduction and editing activities have also been started for the realisation of documentary and multimedia products.